And Simon built Adida in the Shephelah: And Simon is better rendered “Meanwhile, Simon and his men [or, workers]” or “Simon, for his part.” The author is careful to tell what each of the two brothers did at this point. Just as Simon won a victory (verses 33-34) while Jonathan was chasing out Demetrius’ army (verses 24-32), here we are told of how Simon as well as Jonathan contributed to the physical defenses of the country. Good News Bible, Contemporary English Version, New English Bible, and Goldstein use the verb “rebuilt” rather than built. This is perceptive since the town of Adida was already there. Simon turned it into a major defensive outpost. Adida was a town about 6.5 kilometers (4 miles) east of Lydda (see 1Macc 11.34). It is called Hadid in Ezra 2.33 and Neh 7.37; 11.34. The Shephelah was a hilly region between the Judean highlands and the Philistine coastal plain. Good News Bible says “the foothills,” and Contemporary English Version has “the hill country.” Both these models are adequate.

He fortified it and installed gates with bolts: Apparently Adida had never had city gates capable of being barred shut. Simon and his men provided them. He fortified it probably means that “they put a wall around it” (Contemporary English Version). Installed gates with bolts may be expressed as “constructed barred gates” (Good News Bible) or “installed strong gates.”

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on 1-2 Maccabees. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.